Safest Online Poker Site for US Players - Need Advice

Hello, thanks for your time. I play poker mostly in casinos live, and have started to get really interested in the whole "playing online" concept. I've done quite a bit of research and I see tons of sites that accept US players and TONS of horror stories for nearly all of those sites haha, plus reading about past disasters such as ultimate bet, full tilt, and a few others puts me off on the idea. I have a few questions regarding the safety of my funds:

Which site is the safest in terms of regulation and transparency? Everyone seems to scream BetOnline everywhere (but I believe most of them are paid to do so, which isn't very convincing), also there's Carbon Poker and Full Flush. One that really interests me is "Seals with Clubs" as its fairly old and utilizes bitcoin.

Which site is going to have the least amount of cheating and multi-accounting (at the same table)? I've heard that Seals with Clubs is the wild west of online poker and multi-accounting is rampant (not sure if this is still the case, most of the info I find on any of the sites, even on forums, are from years ago, which also scares me).

Which site is going to give me the best player experience with the safest game play (as long as common online security practices are taken on my part, I'd even like to use 2 factor Identification, if any sites have it) and has a nice amount of player base?

I just want to sit down in the comfort of my home and play some holdem, man... I want to get paid out if I request it, and I want a fair game. I honestly don't care about any sign up bonuses or the like, only interested in the safety of my funds and the fairness of game play. I don't want to wake up one day with a fake check or a locked account due to being accused of cheating for getting lucky and winning big.

I just want to make sure I'm not getting into a Ponzi or playing against a super user and such. Any help from any senior online players would be greatly appreciated. I have tried really hard to answer these questions elsewhere and the info was either too out-dated for me to feel comfortable with, or I felt the sites I was visiting were getting paid for promoting them, which also threw me off. I want some honest reviews from real poker players using some of these sites. Thank you! Have a nice day guys! best of luck at the tables. Sorry for the novel

Camel Trader

...added a couple of the bigger rooms for a more complete poll.

Thank you very much -feel free to add to and make this thread more thorough, I'd love to get the most information possible and am not sure I mentioned all the best places. Much appreciated.

Bump Hoping for more answers guy! Thanks! Also some reasons as to why these places are the best compare to others. Thank you!! have a nice day! Best of luck to all.

Not specific to safety, but there is a US site discussion thread - https://www.cardschat.com/forum/poker-rooms-10/us-poker-room-advice-244900/

pokerstars and full tilt are the only safe sites. for us players i feel like all the sites we get to play on are secret goverment sites that screw us all over

I like this poll - let's get some more responses!

i myself have played and deposited on carbon i recently hit the casino of carbon for 2K and cashed out half and was able to get my with drawl in 5 weeks and also was able to cash the check at my bank had to wait another week for funds to clear,,,
i also deposited in americas cardroom but have not cash out yet...

Bovada is gonna win this poll hands down.Great customer service,a lot of traffic ,big tourneys and lets not forget Zone Poker.If it wasnt for the fact that they dont have user names (which really is an advantage to less experienced players in my mind)why would we even play any where else.But luckily for the other sites bovada is not gonna change that! Sorry i got a little off topic here. Was supposed to be just about safety .

I went with WPN, the only reason I did not vote Bovada alot of people are turned off by the anonymous thing.

Seals is still ridden with cheating, collusion and scammers. The site doesn't condone it, but it can't control it either. I wouldn't invest your money, try some of the freerolls if anything.

I chose Bovada and Carbon. I've been able to quickly cash out from both which is the most important aspect, imo, when considering trustworthiness. I can't say Bovada all the way, though, because of the anonymity. It's always going to be tougher to trust the unknown.

Made one choice based on your thread.

MrPokerVerse said:

Made one choice based on your thread.

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+1

I will hang my head in shame on this one. I don't play poker like I used to online, so I have not tried a cashout in a long time as my bankrolls are very small. However if my old brain is firing on all cylinders, Bovada used to be bodog? And I had cashed out from them easy enough, if I recall correctly, lol. I really should not be typing any of this since I think I've done lost my mind trying to remember. In otherwords I'm no help at all on this poll, but I want someone with a better memory to tell me if Bovada used to be Bodog, lol.

WPN which includes BETcoin now and does NOT have any bs cashing out or charges which are ridiculous. Blackchip and ACR do have decent security, great promos and 24/7 games. Seals is not the place to be.

I voted for 1. WPN 2. Bovada and 3. Carbon - All three sites have good cashiers. Poker Host would have been number one if they would not have left merge and disabled p2p transfers like Carbon did years ago. That is another benefit with WPN is the p2p transfers. All three networks payout promptly. I have said this before and I will say it again, if Bovada had a room that was not anonymous in addition to their anonymous tables, then they would be the number one US friendly site.

belladonna05 said:

... I want someone with a better memory to tell me if Bovada used to be Bodog, lol.

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Yes.

belladonna05 said:

I will hang my head in shame on this one. but I want someone with a better memory to tell me if Bovada used to be Bodog, lol.

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No need to hang your head in shame for having old timers disease. :stickyman




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Bovada legal in Indiana

Should I be worried about getting in any trouble playing on Bovada? I live in Indiana... Thanks for any advice..

LarkMarlow said:

Yes.

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Thanks dear

Zorba said:

No need to hang your head in shame for having old timers disease. :stickyman




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truths the truth you old fart

Rdot148 said:

Should I be worried about getting in any trouble playing on Bovada? I live in Indiana... Thanks for any advice..

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nope you will be fine

Rdot148 said:

Should I be worried about getting in any trouble playing on Bovada? I live in Indiana... Thanks for any advice..

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No, you won't get any Legal trouble playing on any site. It is not Illegal to play online poker in the US, It is illegal for your bank to process funds to an online poker site. It is also illegal to run an online poker site in the US for real money with exception to: New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.

The Legality of playing online poker is widely misunderstood to this day even amongst informed poker forum members.

If I'm wrong about wha tI said I will feel extremely stupid but I'm 87% certain..

As for a do NOT play site "Lock Poker" and their other site they've created in which Idk the name of but someoone else will mention it here.. Lock Poker is a Ponzi Scheme and some players haven't been paid in over a year.

As for the poll, Betcoin is a poker site that is alos run on the WPN poker skin I think that should be added in the ACR/BCP category =p It is a poker site that deals in Bitcoin.

I've never made a withdrawal there but I chose Carbon because I've never heard anybody ever say they had trouble there.

I did get lucky and was able to make a withdrawal from Bovada one time. A few days after submitting the request I received an email advising my request had been approved and a check would arrive by DHL courier within 20 days. The only part that made me nervous was when they said in the depositing instructions not to mention online gambling and to deposit the check into my personal account via ATM.

I dropped it off in the ATM at the Credit Union one night, waited about a week to spend the money, and never had a problem. I just really hate the anonymous player at Bovada.

TicketMan4u said:

I've never made a withdrawal there but I chose Carbon because I've never heard anybody ever say they had trouble there.

I did get lucky and was able to make a withdrawal from Bovada one time. A few days after submitting the request I received an email advising my request had been approved and a check would arrive by DHL courier within 20 days. The only part that made me nervous was when they said in the depositing instructions not to mention online gambling and to deposit the check into my personal account via ATM.

I dropped it off in the ATM at the Credit Union one night, waited about a week to spend the money, and never had a problem. I just really hate the anonymous player at Bovada.

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Most sites say not to tell the banks its a deposit from gambling.. Carbon does the same thing. Just say it's a personal check. The bank didn't ask me

The safest IMO and this is from experience at all of them USA sites except lock number 1 safest is bovada . 2 carbon 3 betonline 4 acr/bcp5ffp 6 juicy this is just my opinon but only two places I feel comfortable depositing is bovada and carbon . Carbon cuz I have to if I'm gonna freeroll a bankroll

I extended the poll just in case we want it to run longer.

Also - it is perfectly fine to vote for more than 1 site.